Work Text:
"You seem awfully relaxed." Azusa gazed at her senpai, who was splayed out on her bed, reading some kind of manga. One of her legs hung off the edge of the bed, kicking back and forth lazily. Azusa herself sat on the floor at the table set with two hot cups of tea.
Yui paused and turned her head to face Azusa with an innocent smile. "Hm?"
"You're leaving for Uni in two days—less than two days, even—yet you don't seem to care at all. Shouldn't you be at least a little worried?"
Yui was indeed due to move out the day after tomorrow, in the morning. It had already been evening when Yui had spontaneously called Azusa, asking her to hang out. Looking around, her senpai's room was much more bare than usual; several books from her desk were missing, as well as pieces of decoration, and from the wall, photos and posters had been taken down. A suitcase sat in the corner of the room. It was clear Yui had already begun the process of packing.
Yui seemed to think about what Azusa had said for a moment and replied. "But it's not tomorrow. Why should I be?"
"You're way too carefree."
"Maybe you worry too much," Yui teased.
So what if Azusa was worried? What was wrong with showing concern for her friend? Yui was the one to call her over in the first place. "Why did you invite me over, anyway? Shouldn't you be packing right now?" Azusa immediately became defensive.
"Because I wanted to see my Azunyan. Besides, you didn't have to come. You knew when I was leaving, and yet you came anyway."
"That's—" Azusa had no comeback. She had come precisely because Yui was leaving. When she had realised that she might not get another chance to see her before she leaves, Azusa had decided she wanted to spend as much time with her as she could—even if it meant she was distracting Yui from her responsibilities. She was only human too.
"I'll have all of tomorrow to pack. It'll be fine."
"But still..." Even though Yui was probably correct, that still wouldn't stop her worrying.
"It'll be fine," Yui repeated. She stuck a bookmark inside her manga, on the page she was reading, and tossed it on her bed. She jumped up and joined Azusa at the table, sitting across from her, and picked up her cup of tea. She took a small sip and sighed contentedly. She really is too relaxed, Azusa thought.
Silence fell between the two as they both peacefully sipped away at their tea. Azusa noticed Yui's bright-red guitar was still in its same spot and not packed away in its case. "Giita isn't coming with you?"
"Huh?" Yui looked up and looked to where Azusa's eye's were pointing and caught on. "Ah, right. He's coming, of course. He's just too cute to keep him in his case." Yui giggled.
"mhm," Azusa laughed.
"I just hope he doesn't get knocked up in the back of the car. I might have to keep him with me in the front." Yui imitated a hug with her hands.
You definitely wouldn't want to damage a such a nice guitar. Giita was in pristine condition, It was clear that Yui had become quite good at taking care of her instrument. She must have really cared for him.
Yui suddenly got up and crept up behind Azusa, wrapping her arms around her—Yui's signature attack. She sighed longingly as she rubbed her head against Azusa's. "If only I could take you with me in a case, too. Then I could hug you all time."
"That doesn't sound comfortable," Azusa grumbled, shrinking away from Yui's hold. Despite that, as much as her senpai's relentless attacks may have annoyed her, she couldn't help but feel like she would miss it too. At some point, those hugs had become almost routine, and it was nice to have that sort of intimacy with someone. It occasionally even helped her cheer up when she was feeling under the weather. Of course, admitting to that after being so aggressively against it for so long was a bit difficult for her. Azusa was sure that the girls wouldn't let her live it down.
"Ah!" Out of nowhere, Yui shot up and let go of Azusa. When Azusa turned to look at her, Yui looked deep in thought, as if she had just had a "Eureka" moment.
"Yui-senpai?" Azusa asked timidly.
Yui, with sparkles in her eyes, locked glances with Azusa. "Why don't you sleep over tonight?"
"Um..." She was a bit taken aback; the question had come out of nowhere. Yui hadn't mentioned anything about a sleepover over the phone. And what about her packing? Azusa thought she really shouldn't intrude any more than she already had. "I don't know..." she answered indecisively.
"Well, think about it. And don't mind me; I'll be okay."
It upset Azusa that Yui, of all people, had read her mind.
Azusa did think hard about it. She obviously didn't want to be a bother to Yui, but she did want to spend as much time together as possible, and she had already come this far. Then Azusa rememberd what Yui had said. Perhaps it was alright to trust her this time. But then there were the practical questions, too.
"Will your parents allow it?" Azusa brought up.
"They're always okay with you staying over."
"I didn't bring any change of clothes with me."
"Hm." Yui put her hand on her chin and thought about it. "Ui has spare clothes that should fit you."
"How will I brush my teeth?"
"I didn't think about that," Yui muttered to herself. "I'll check if we have a spare toothbrush." And so she excused herself. A minute later, she came back holding an unopened pack with a brand new toothbrush inside. Luckily, the Hirasawa household happened to have a spare lying around.
Finally, Azusa phoned her own parents to ask them about it. They had no objections.
"Alright," Azusa ceded, all her issues having been addressed, "I guess I can stay."
"Yay!" Yui celebrated and hugged Azusa tightly once again.
After that, they finished their tea. It was already getting late, and outside, dark had already descended around them. Yui was the first to use the bathroom, showering and preparing for bed. Once she had finished, she handed Azusa spare pajamas from Ui and a towel. Azusa went in next. She showered and brushed her teeth with the spare brush, then she dried her hair with a blow dryer they kept in the bathroom, as Yui had done.
When she emerged from the bathroom, refreshed, she came into Yui's room to see her laying on her bed again, reading her manga. The teacups had been cleared away while she was gone.
"Done?"
"Where is it?" Azusa asked, disregarding Yui's question.
"Huh?" Yui looked puzzled.
"The futon. Where do you keep it?"
Yui looked at her, blank-faced, then started giggling mischievously. Azusa suddenly had a bad feeling in her chest. "You're not sleeping in the futon."
Azusa was genuinely confused. "But I thought you had one." She hadn't included it in her list of problems because she thought it was a given, but maybe she should have.
"Of course we do," Yui smiled at her.
"Then, where am I sleeping?"
"Here," Yui said, patting the bed beside where she sat.
"Wha—" Azusa hadn't expected that. "Then, you're sleeping in the futon?"
Yui shook her head.
"Then, where?"
Yui patted the bed beside her once again and giggled.
Azusa felt blood rushing to her head as she struggled to find any words. "I— You— Wha— You can't be serious."
"I'm completely serious." Yui continued smiling smugly, as if she were a villain revealing her evil plan. "I thought of it earlier: I won't be able to see you when I'm at Uni, and I don't when I'll be able to come visit next. But I won't be able to live without Azunyan's hugs, so I thought 'what if I could make up for all of the lost hugs in that time.' So we're going to make that up tonight, right here."
It all finally clicked in Azusa's mind. She understood. To put it bluntly, Yui wanted to cuddle with her in bed. She felt her heart rate beginning to pick up. "This is ridiculous." Azusa couldn't believe it. She had been invited to sleep over under false pretenses. "Why did you lie about that?"
"I didn't lie," Yui replied, feigning ignorance.
"It was a lie by omission; I couldn't have expected that we would be sleeping in the same bed when you asked me to sleep over."
"Semantics, semantics," Yui mocked playfully. "If you really don't want to, you can have the futon."
Azusa quickly calmed down. Right, there's still the futon, she thought. There was still a way out of this. But did she want to get out of this? When Azusa thought about the prospect of not seeing Yui for months, she did feel somewhat lonely. Maybe she had mistaken her being flustered for anger and lashed out. However, sleeping together was a new level for Azusa. And the way Yui could talk about it so brazenly...
Azusa took a deep breath. She really had to think about this calmly, as it was the last opportunity she would have for a long time. Part of her brain wanted to be with her, and another wanted to avoid embarrassment at all costs. If anyone ever found out about this, she thought she would be done for. But the weight of not being with Yui proved too much.
"Okay." She admitted defeat.
Yui smiled and crawled under the duvet, leaving a space for Azusa, who followed after her reluctantly. Then Yui stretched her arm over Azusa's head and turned off the night light sitting atop the night stand, leaving the two laying side by side in complete darkness.
It was sort of awkward. Azusa laid on her side, facing away from Yui, almost too nervous to move, in silence. They were supposed to be cuddling, but Azusa didn't know what to do, or whether she should initiate, or how. She wondered how she would ever fall asleep when her heart was racing this much.
Azusa almost jumped when she felt an arm around her, pulling her in closer. Yui put both arms around her and brought herself close enough to Azusa that she was nearly on top of her. Yui's head nestled against hers but Yui didn't say anything. Could she feel how quickly Azusa's heart was beating? They stayed that way for a while, and Azusa's heart gradually calmed down; she was slowly acclimatising. Then all of the anxiety vanished and she relaxed her entire body (she hadn't even realised just how tense she had been), allowing herself to sink into this warmth.
Yui's slow, rhythmic breathing, the scent of her shampoo, the body pressed against hers—she felt it all. And she sank deeper yet. It was strange; Yui's bed wasn't any nicer than Azusa's, so why did hers never feel as soft and velvety as this? As she laid there, already Azusa was starting to feel like she could be at peace when Yui left.
"Yui, please come back and visit lots," Azusa whispered, almost to herself. The grip around her body tightened in response. Silence. Azusa prayed that morning take its time.